Disasters & Incidents
Earthquakes, eruptions, storms, crashes and attacks, each pinned where it happened and dated. A record of events, not of places to visit.
Collections
- Mass shootings in the United States that killed 13 or more people since 1949 — A dated record of shootings in public places in the United States, from the 1960s to the 2020s, in which thirteen or more people were kille…
- Industrial and accidental explosions that killed 200 or more people since 1900 — Industrial and accidental explosions from the twentieth century onward in which at least two hundred people were killed: ships loaded with…
- Peacetime shipwrecks that killed 500 or more people since 1900 — Passenger ships and ferries lost outside wartime, each pinned where the vessel burned, struck or went down, from the first decade of the tw…
- Tsunamis with waves of 15 metres or more from 1800 to 1899 — Nineteenth-century tsunamis whose recorded run-up reached at least fifteen metres somewhere along the shore, pinned at the source that rais…
- Western Pacific typhoons of category 4 and above in the 2010 to 2013 seasons — A time-ordered record of the strongest storms to form in the western North Pacific across four seasons, from Megi in October 2010 to Haiyan…
- Western Pacific typhoons of category 4 and above in the 2016 season — The 2016 Western Pacific season produced a run of storms that reached Saffir-Simpson category 4 or 5, from a July landfall on Taiwan to a t…
- Western Pacific typhoons of category 4 and above in the 2014 and 2015 seasons — Western Pacific storms from the 2014 and 2015 seasons that reached category 4 or category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale at peak. Each entry…
- Earthquakes of magnitude 7 and above in New Zealand since 1900 — New Zealand sits across the boundary between the Australian and Pacific plates, and the instrumental record since 1900 holds a steady run o…
- Atlantic hurricanes of category 4 and above in the 1990 to 1999 seasons — Storms from a decade of North Atlantic seasons that reached the top two steps of the Saffir-Simpson scale, each drawn along its full track…
- Earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 and above in Mexico and Central America from 1900 to 1969 — A dated run of the largest seismic events recorded in Mexico, Central America and Panama across the first seven decades of the twentieth ce…
- Earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 and above in Indonesia from 1950 to 1999 — Between 1950 and the end of the century, the seismic record for the Indonesian archipelago accumulated a long run of very large ruptures, f…
- Earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 and above in Chile from 1900 to 1949 — A run of very large shocks along the Chilean subduction margin in the first half of the twentieth century, from the destruction of Valparaí…
- South Pacific tropical cyclones of category 4 and above in the 1997 to 2009 seasons — A time-ordered record of the strongest tropical cyclones catalogued in the South Pacific basin between the 1997 and 2009 seasons, each reac…
- Category 5 tropical cyclones of the 2000 to 2004 seasons — A chronological record of the tropical cyclones that reached the top of the Saffir-Simpson scale in the seasons from 2000 through 2004, dra…
- Landslides and mudflows that killed 200 or more people since 1950 — Dated records of slope failures since 1950 in which 200 or more people died: debris avalanches off glaciated peaks, volcanic lahars, rain-t…
- Earthquakes of magnitude 7 and above in the Himalaya since 1930 — A dated sequence of large earthquakes recorded along the Himalaya and its western continuation into the Hindu Kush, from the 1930s to the p…
- Avalanches that killed 50 or more people since 1900 — Snow, ice and rock slides from the past century that each took at least fifty lives, set down in the order they happened. Some buried train…
- South-West Indian Ocean cyclones of category 4 and above in the 2010 to 2018 seasons — A run of high-end tropical cyclones logged across the southern Indian Ocean and its neighbouring basins over nine seasons, from the 2009-10…
- Tsunamis with waves of 15 metres or more from 1950 to 1999 — A historical run of tsunamis recorded in the second half of the twentieth century whose highest measured water reached at least fifteen met…
- Atlantic hurricanes of category 4 and above in the 2000 to 2007 seasons — Between the 2000 and 2007 seasons the North Atlantic produced a run of cyclones that reached the top two steps of the Saffir-Simpson scale,…
- Earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 and above in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands since 1990 — The southwest Pacific where the Australian and Pacific plates meet produces large ruptures more often than almost anywhere else, and the re…
- Earthquakes of magnitude 7 and above in Taiwan since 1900 — Taiwan sits where the Philippine Sea Plate meets the Eurasian Plate, and the instrumental record since 1900 holds a long run of large shock…
- Rail accidents that killed 200 or more people since 1970 — Rail accidents since 1970 in which 200 or more people died, set out in the order they happened and drawn from the contemporary record: wire…
- Tsunamis with waves of 15 metres or more from 1900 to 1949 — Between 1900 and 1949, a handful of waves were recorded at heights of 15 metres or more, some raised by offshore earthquakes and some by ro…
- Volcanic eruptions of VEI 4 from 1900 to 1949 — Explosive eruptions from the first half of the twentieth century, each placed at the fourth step of the Volcanic Explosivity Index and pinn…
- Eastern Pacific hurricanes of category 5 in the 2000 to 2024 seasons — A historical run of Eastern North Pacific tropical cyclones that reached the top of the Saffir-Simpson scale across the 2000 to 2024 season…
- Category 5 tropical cyclones of the 2009 to 2012 seasons — Storms that topped the Saffir-Simpson scale in four consecutive cyclone seasons, each drawn as a full track from the first advisory to the…
- Atlantic hurricanes of category 4 and above in the 2008 to 2016 seasons — A historical record of the Atlantic storms that reached Category 4 or stronger on the Saffir-Simpson scale between the 2008 and 2016 season…
- North Indian Ocean cyclones of category 3 and above in the 2000 to 2024 seasons — A chronological record of tropical cyclones that reached major intensity in and around the North Indian Ocean across the 2000 to 2024 seaso…
- Bridge failures that killed 50 or more people since 1900 — Collapses of road, rail and pedestrian crossings from the twentieth century onward, each pinned where the structure gave way. Some fell und…
- Dam failures that killed 100 or more people since 1900 — Embankments, concrete arches and mine tailings impoundments that gave way between 1917 and 2023, each pinned where the structure stood when…
- Earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 and above in Indonesia since 2000 — Indonesia sits along the Sunda Trench and the plate boundaries east of it, and the instrumental record since 2000 holds a long run of large…
- Earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 and above in South America since 1990 — A chronological record of the largest instrumentally recorded ruptures along the South American margin over the past three decades, from de…
- Volcanic eruptions of VEI 4 from 1960 to 1989 — Thirty years of mid-sized explosive volcanism, from the Philippines and Indonesia through Central America to the Kurils, Kamchatka, Alaska…
- Airliner accidents that killed 200 or more people since 1970 — A dated record of civil and charter airliner accidents since 1970 in which 200 or more people died, in the order they occurred. Each entry…
- Volcanic eruptions of VEI 4 since 2000 — A dated run of explosive eruptions since 2000 placed at the index level used by volcanologists for events that loft columns into the strato…
- Category 5 tropical cyclones of the 2019 to 2022 seasons — A historical run of storms from the 2019 to 2022 seasons that reached the top of the Saffir-Simpson scale, drawn from across the Atlantic,…
- Category 5 tropical cyclones of the 2023 and 2024 seasons — Between early 2023 and late 2024, thirteen tropical cyclones reached the top of the Saffir-Simpson scale, in basins from the southern India…
- The largest oil spills from tankers since 1967 — Groundings, collisions and explosions that put tens of thousands of tonnes of crude and condensate into the sea, from the Seven Stones reef…
- Tsunamis with waves of 30 metres or more since 1950 — Run-ups at this scale come from two very different sources: ocean-crossing earthquakes, and mountainsides, glaciers or volcanic flanks coll…
- Volcanic eruptions of VEI 5 and above since 1900 — A historical run of the largest explosive eruptions recorded since 1900, each pinned at the volcano's summit as the catalogue gives it. The…
- Earthquakes of magnitude 8.5 and above since 1900 — Earthquakes at the top of the instrumental record, from the first decade of seismograph coverage through the early 2010s, each pinned at th…